Analyst: Bitcoin could bounce back big-time in 2018

Despite its price plunge, some diehard bitcoin connoisseurs still say the annoyed cryptocurrency could hit six figures by year’s end.

Tone Vays, a New York-based cryptocurrency analyst and blockchain consultant, has been among those arguing that the wild swings in bitcoin value since its debut in 2009 at less than a penny could mean that an even greater upswing may be probable this year.

“Right now I think that bitcoin should still go down in price, but it will recover,” says Vays. “$100K this year is probable, but that’s very high. I put the current fair value at $25,000.”

Vays decided to bill his clients at 0.1 bitcoin per hour last year when the price hit $1,200, and he says he is not seeing back, despite the more than 50 % hourly pay cut he has taken this year.

Fellow bitcoin disciple Ronnie Moas, for his part, is more measured in his optimism.

“I do not like crypto at $500 billion [market cap] as I did at $100 billion, but I do like it more at $500 billion than I did at $800 billion last month,” said Moas, founder of Standpoint Research, who adds he has raised his 2018 price target to $28,000 from the $20,000 he forecast in November.

“I don’t know how anybody could set and justify a price target that high for this year,” he says of the speculation of a six-figure bitcoin price tag in the near future.

Offering a various outlook is James Rickards, strategic director at Meraglim, a financial analytics firm.

“I think bitcoin is going to go to $200,” he predicts, without offering a timeframe. “The only residual use is for criminals, and it will keep grinding down.”